DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns most of the characters and settings here—I own the rest.

An extra big Thank You to all readers and reviewers-as always; especially to the reviewer who left one in Portuguese, thus ensuring a minimum of spoilers for those reading in English :)

The title of this chapter is taken from a song by a really horrible rock group. Trust me when I say it's appropriate.

Feel free to leave a further review in the box at the end of the chapter...on with the show!

NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
Chapter 25 - Blood of Our Blood, Spirit of Our Spirit

Hermione took one look at the ring and promptly fainted.

There was an immediate hubbub from nearly all onlookers (except for Ron, who at this point in the proceedings was looking as if he'd received multiple Confundus Charms). Walden tossed the ring box quickly onto the table and caught Hermione in his arms before she fell to the marquee floor. Molly Weasley, who'd been escorting the children back to the festivities, came running over immediately, as did Poppy Pomfrey, who'd accompanied Minerva McGonagall to the wedding. Gavin, Elspeth and Hamish ensured that nobody crowded in, and one of the pipers offered up his flask to Walden, saying "Mayhap yer lass could use this!"

After Hermione had been propped up on two chairs, Poppy performed Rennervate. Hermione stirred, weakly, and looked up.

"Madam Pomfrey? I'm not in the Hospital Wing...am I?"

"No, you're at Ron Weasley's wedding," Poppy said. "And you just had a very great...er, surprise."

"As did we all," Minerva interjected.

"Did you just say Ron's wedding?" Hermione rubbed her eyes and looked down at her dress, which was obviously neither bridal nor white. "Oh, that's a relief."

"Are ye all right, lass?" Walden asked, getting down on one knee once again, and taking Hermione's hand.

"I...er, think so," she replied. "What happened?"

"I proposed to ye and ye fainted," Walden stated, in his usual blunt manner.

"Oh..." Hermione said. "Did I, er, had I given you an answer before that?"

"No' yet," Walden said. At this point, they'd attracted a fairly large crowd consisting of most of the wedding party and attendees, except for Ron, who was determinedly remaining in his seat. Fiona, looking rather sulky now that the attention was away from her, stood next to him.

"Well, I...er, shouldn't we wait until after the wedding's done?"

"I worked all this out before with Hamish and Da," Walden said. "Th' weddin's done, they did the toasts, all that's happenin' now is the dancin' and such."

"Not like they need a shivaree, either, we know they've already done the deed," said someone, from the crowd, who was hastily shushed. Another member of the crowd, most likely a Macfarlane cousin, from the accent, said, "Come on lassie, give the man a break, answer him before next Hogmanay!" A second voice added, "We want to get on wi' the dancin'!"

"Doona listen to those numpties, lass," Hamish said, in his booming voice. "Answer me cousin in yer own time, if ye will."

Meanwhile, Walden had retrieved the ring from the table and said, quietly, in Hermione's ear, "I'm sorry, I wanted to make it romantic for ye, ye can answer me later."

Hermione stood up and took Walden's hand. In for a Knut, in for a Galleon, she thought. At least she no longer had to worry about all her friends finding out via the Prophet or gossip-most of them were at the wedding. "I'll answer now..." she said, pausing a bit for dramatic effect once she noticed that Ron had stood up and was intently staring at them. "Yes!"

After the cheer sounded from the crowd, Ron promptly fainted.

Several hours later, while the Weird Sisters were taking a break, Hermione asked Walden if they might head home soon. Heather and Melissa had volunteered, and already departed, to take Evan to the Burrow for the pre-arranged sleepover, after which they planned to stay at the Three Broomsticks.

There'd been lots of dancing and even more carousing, and from the looks of things, both entertainments showed no signs of stopping in the near future. Although Hermione had chosen to stick to gillywater for the rest of the celebration, she did take one shot of the piper's excellent whisky before returning the flask to him. Walden had even consented, albeit with much reluctance, to dance with Hermione to "Do the Hippogriff"...to the general amusement of those former Hogwarts students who understood the irony.

Ron (after he'd been revived by a hasty Rennervate from Arthur Weasley) and Fiona had studiously avoided Walden and Hermione; Hermione ensured that she was not in the group of witches crowding around for the bouquet toss, and when the time came to give a mass farewell to the newlyweds prior to their Portkey journey to Malaga, she stood at the back of the crowd and waved half-heartedly. (Walden, meanwhile, had chosen to head to the loo rather than see them off.)

Draco had already departed, but Narcissa and Lucius accompanied them as they strolled up to the Disapparation point.

"Miss Granger, although I already congratulated you, may I be permitted to do so again?" Lucius bowed to Hermione and kissed her hand.

"Of course, Mr. Malfoy. Although I do so dislike to mix business and pleasure, I would like to make an appointment with you in the very near future, to discuss your Alliance," Hermione replied.

"Certainly," he replied. "Walden, good evening," Lucius added, before he and Narcissa, who'd remained mostly silent through the entire evening, Disapparated.

The next morning, Walden and Hermione enjoyed yet another leisurely lie-in, featuring breakfast in bed served by Binkus. Thanks to anti-hangover potions, no ugly headaches marred their quiet time together.

Once they'd started on their second cups of coffee, Walden asked, "Lass, may I ask what yer meeting with Lucius is about?"

"Oh, yes, that," Hermione replied, as she sat down her toast. "I'm quitting the Ministry and offering my services to the Alliance."

"That musta been what ye were sitting around thinkin' about for all that time," Walden replied. "I hope ye're not quittin' because of me."

"Well, I won't deny that our relationship was a factor, but honestly, my job was deadly dull, not at all what I expected when I started, and now that the trials have ended, I think I can do more good for the wizarding world by lending legitimacy to Lucius' effort. I'm certain he'll see it my way."

"That sounds a bit Slytherin, lass."

"Well, I have been studying you all in your native habitats for a while now," and she chuckled. "Not to mention that I really want to take some more time off."

"I canna argue with that," Walden said.

They'd both just about finished their coffee when the rapid pounding of footsteps in the hallway announced Evan's return...followed quickly by loud pounding on the door. "Dad! Can I come in?" He didn't wait before flinging open the door.

"Son, we're gonna have ta have a talk about privacy," Walden said. "I didna have the door warded, but normally I would, and you might not want to try and open it in that case."

"Sorry, Dad! Hermione, is it true? Are you going to be my mum?" Evan shouted, as he ran over to the bed and jumped on the end of it. Hermione was glad she'd sat down her coffee cup.

"Where did you hear that, Evan?"

"From Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny! Mr. Weasley says that you're old enough to know what you're doing, and Mrs. Weasley says she hopes you're not making a mistake, and Ginny said, Mum, I'm sure that Hermione is happy, I've seen them together and he's a perfect gentleman."

"Did they actually say all of that to you?" Hermione asked.

"Well, no, I heard them when I was coming down the stairs, but they weren't whispering or anything...but is it true?"

"Aye, son, it's true, I've asked her to marry me and she accepted," Walden interjected.

"AWESOME!" Evan shouted at the top of his lungs. "Am I going to get to wear a kilt again at your wedding? Can I wear the Gryffindor sword this time and the knife in my sock, too? Pleeeeeeeese?"

"We'll see about that, son," Walden said, smiling.

"Sorry, Da," Heather said, as she entered the room. "We couldn't stop him, he wanted to come right up and talk to you immediately." She paused for a moment, and then handed a letter to Walden. "Oh, and this just came for you."

"I suppose we'd better get up," Hermione said, as she resignedly stepped out of bed and Summoned her robe.

Off the British coast, near a bleak, windswept beach, there was a cave that crackled with magic. Deep inside the cave, protected by blood wards, was a black lake filled with Inferi with an island in the middle, on which stood a basin that had once held a Horcrux.

Lord Voldemort had visited this cave one last time prior to the Battle of Hogwarts, and in his haste to find Harry Potter, he'd not bothered to put back the anti-Apparition wards or the Dissolution Charms that hid it from prying Muggle and magical eyes.

Although higher-ups in the Ministry had been aware of the cave during Voldemort's brief reign, they'd not passed on this information to the new, reform government.

Thus, only one wizard currently held that knowledge, and he'd chosen to keep it to himself...until now.

A semicircle of black-robed wizards stood on the lake shore, wands aloft. It was clear that they'd found the perfect base of operations, and they looked to their leader for guidance.

"Hail the Resurgence!" shouted Corban Yaxley, as he sent green sparks into the air.